The Singapore GP was completely dominated by Lando Norris. However, it wasn’t completely clean for the British driver. During the race, Lando narrowly escaped a DNF as he lightly clipped the wall. After the race, Lando said why the incident had occurred.
On lap 30, Lando came onto the radio and asked the team to check the front wing for damages. While Norris came into the pits the next lap, the team opted to not change the front wing. A replay showed that Norris had a major lock-up going into turn 14 that almost put him in the wall. While he suffered minor damage, it was not enough to slow him down.
⏪ Rewind to the moment Norris damaged his front wing brushing the barriers after locking up on the entry to Turn 14 #F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/XaTlbuXiTw
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 22, 2024
Just as Lando was getting his lead back up in the 2nd stint, Lando had another close call where he clipped his right wheel while entering turn 10. After this, Lando’s race engineer had to come on the radio and ask him to calm down and just bring the car home.
Lando Norris gives insight to what happened during scary lock-up
After the race, Lando Norris was interviewed by David Coulthard who asked him about the 2 close calls. To this, Lando said:
“It was an amazing race. A few too many close calls, I had a couple of close moments in the middle but it was well managed I think. I could push, we were flying the whole race. Still tough, I’m a bit out of breath, but a good one.”
“It’s not that you are over pushing, sometimes you are chilling too much – maybe it was a bit of both but it was easy to lock the tyres, and I wanted the biggest lead possible. I wasn’t taking it easy.”
Lando Norris wins the Singapore GP by 20 seconds. #F1 #SingaporeGP pic.twitter.com/XFhZkkJh1v
— Fastest Pitstop (@FastestPitStop) September 22, 2024
Lando was “chilling too much” and that almost cost him a DNF. There was no doubt that Norris dominated the Singapore GP. At one point, the British driver was 30 seconds ahead of Max. This caused Lando to relax a bit and he lost focus.
This just shows how much focus is required in Formula 1 at all times. A slight lapse in focus could cost the entire race even if they’re leading by 30 seconds.
